I was cruising in a Prentice at about 5,000 ft (I thought) quite soon after sunrise, on route from Rhodes to Cyprus. It was a lovely, cloudless morning, but very hazy, with little visual reference. I was very tired and drowsy, having slept fitfully under the aircraft until getting up at 0400 or so to get going.
After a while, I noticed sparkling flashes, rather like a distant firework display, seemingly above my height. Hmmm, I thought, AAA practice? Nothing on the map and Rhodes briefing room said nothing. I watched this for a while, forgetting to scan, and then, I'm suspect, dozed off for a few moments. (The Prentice rumbled along at 1900 RPM, quite soporific really. No autopilot or wing-leveller, of course, but very stable.)
Then I woke up, either literally or metaphorically, and scanned automatically; Dear God... altimeter....500 ft!.... VSI....descending at about 200 fpm.
The aircraft had been slightly nose-down in a gentle descent for quite a while, and the flashes were the rising sun's reflection, through the haze, off the ripples in the sea's surface near the horizon I couldn't see in the haze, seen in the top of the windshield because of the aircraft's attitude.